New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday declined to stay the notification that paved the way for the setting up of a joint committee comprising central ministers and representatives of the civil society to draft a more stringent anti-graft Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill.
An apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Panickar Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar while adjourning the hearing on the three petitions till July said that these were ‘premature’.
The court observed that some of the pleadings made by the petitioners were not acceptable under law. ‘We will go strictly by law,’ the court said.
As counsel Manohar Lal Sharma pressed his public interest litigation, the court asked him which fundamental right (of the petitioner) was violated and why the court should go into the validity of the notification on the panel issued April 8 in the wake of the 97-hour fast by social activist Anna Hazare.
Besides the PIL filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, the other two petitions are by a Haryana-based political party Mahan Dal and Kaushal Kishore Shukla.
While Mahan Dal has contended that the Lokpal legislation could not be piloted under the pressure brought about by Hazare and his followers as it would set a wrong precedent.
Kaushal Kishore Shukla wanted the inclusion of the leader of opposition in the drafting committee.
